VIDEO: Bedfordshire PCC victory goes to Labour

No-one received more than 50 per cent of the first preference votes, and second preferences were then counted for the two candidates who had fared best, Mr Martin and the Conservative candidate Jas Parmar.

With first and second preferences added together, Mr Martins polled 35,958 votes and Mr Parmar 32,100.

In the first preference count, Lib Dem Linda Jack received 11,205 votes, the British Freedom Party’s Kevin Carroll 8,675 and independent candidate Mezanur Rashid 8,076.

Mr Martins said the result sent messages to the Conservative party that police cuts and privatisation were not supported by people in Bedfordshire, and to the British Freedom Party and EDL that they did not speak for people in the county.

Total voter turnout across the county was 84,170, or 18.19 per cent of the electorate. In Luton the turnout was 20.2 per cent, in Bedford 19.3 and in Central Beds 16.1.

Follow https://twitter.com/LutonNewsSally for live updates from the count.